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The Courts

Submission + - The McMissile Incident

Submitted by
dthx1138
dthx1138 writes: "A North Carolina woman has been convicted of throwing a "missile" weapon into an occupied vehicle while driving. The missile in question happens to be an empty McDonald's soft drink cup; as such the case has now become known in the local media as the "McMissile incident." Apparently the conviction was based upon a statue from the 1920s that describes a missile is "any object propelled by force." From the article:

Jessica Hall, of Jacksonville, N.C., was convicted by a Virginia jury of maliciously throwing a missile into an occupied vehicle, a felony in Virginia. The instructions given to the jury said that any object propelled by force can be considered a missile. In Hall's case, it was a McDonald's cup filled with ice.

This begs the question: what role should specific scientific wording play in legislation? Would a mimnimum kinetic energy requirement for the projectile have helped in this incident?"
Media

BBC and YouTube Deal in the Works? 152

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the deciding-to-play-ball dept.
Algis writes to tell us the BBC is in the process of striking a deal with YouTube to allow BBC content to be posted on YouTube. Previously the BBC has demanded quite a few video be removed from the Google-owned video sharing site. "The deal between YouTube and the BBC however, is more interesting still, since YouTube is a global service that is completely free to all users. Shows cannot be downloaded from YouTube. Instead, they're watched online on the YouTube website, or the YouTube player is embedded in other websites for no cost to the user. This is the nature of content sharing that has seen YouTube grow from a company making no money, to a company worth almost $2billion to Google, in less than two years. Quite what the BBC-YouTube deal will entail is anyone's guess. It is highly, highly unlikely to include full-length current BBC shows. What could be possible is the addition to YouTube of much older shows, such as classics like 'The Young Ones' or 'Faulty Towers', in an effort to boost the shows' exposure and increase DVD sales of these shows."
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - Is Coal (Yes, Coal) the Next Hot Technology?

Submitted by nlseaver
nlseaver writes: From a greenhouse gas perspective, coal is one of our dirtiest sources of energy. It's also widely available and cheap, and so it will continue to be a critical source of energy in the twenty-first century. Despite hopes for "clean coal" technology, no clear solution has emerged. Furthermore, because no policy framework (like a carbon tax or incentives to invest in clean technology) yet exists, coal companies are putting into place long-lived "dirty" coal facilities. As the article states: "Within the next few years, power companies are planning to build about 150 coal plants to meet growing electricity demands. Despite expectations that global warming rules are coming, almost none of the plants will be built to capture the thousands of tons of carbon dioxide that burning coal spews into the atmosphere." http://select.nytimes.com/mem/tnt.html?emc=tnt&tnt get=2007/02/21/business/21coal.html&tntemail1=y
Power

Submission + - Fuel tanks made of corncob waste

Submitted by
Roland Piquepaille
Roland Piquepaille writes: "After yesterday's story about wild grass used to produce clean fuel, let's look today at how corncob waste can be used to created carbon briquettes with complex nanopores capable of storing natural gas. These methane storage systems may encourage mass-market natural gas cars. In fact, these "briquettes are the first technology to meet the 180 to 1 storage to volume target set by the U.S. Department of Energy in 2000." They can lead to flat and compact tanks and have already been installed in a pickup truck used regularly by the Kansas City Office of Environmental Quality. And as the whole natural gas infrastructure exists already, this new technology could be soon adopted by car manufacturers. Read more for additional details and an illustration showing the whole process, from the corncob to the pick up truck."
Editorial

Submission + - Bush on Iraq: Do we need more or less troops?

Submitted by
nickull
nickull writes: "In response to the recent declaration that Tony Blair will pull about 1600 troups from Iraq in the near future, the Mercury News reports:

"WASHINGTON — The Bush administration said Wednesday that Britain's decision to withdraw 1,600 troops from Iraq is a positive sign that fits with the overall strategy for stabilizing the country." Is this the same Bush administration that declared it needs to send more troops to Iraq?"
Space

Submission + - ROCKET EXPLOSION

Submitted by PhreakOfTime
PhreakOfTime writes: http://www.spaceweather.com/ ROCKET EXPLOSION: What was it? It was a mystery for almost 24 hours until satellite expert Daniel Deak matched the trajectory of the plume in Palmer's photo with the orbit of a derelict rocket booster — "a Briz-M, catalog number 28944." One year ago, the Briz-M sat atop a Russian Proton rocket that left Earth on Feb. 28, 2006, carrying an Arabsat-4A communications satellite. Shortly after launch, the rocket malfunctioned, leaving the satellite in the wrong orbit and the Briz-M looping around Earth partially-filled with fuel. On Feb. 19, 2007, for reasons unknown, the fuel tanks ruptured over Australia.
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft apologises for serving malware

Submitted by
dark_15
dark_15 writes: "Microsoft has apologized for serving malware via its websites and Windows Live Messenger software. APC reader Jackie Murphy reported the problem: 'With Microsoft launching Vista along with their Defender software to protect users from viruses and spyware, it seems therefore to be an oxymoron that they have started to putting paid changing banner advertisements for malware, on the popular MSN groups servers.'"
Education

Submission + - Contracts required for training dollars?

Submitted by Rev Cacher
Rev Cacher writes: Since certifications make you more valuable, it seems reasonable that a company would want to protect their investment in your education. Does your company require that you sign an agreement to stay there for a certain period of time prior to sending you to certification classes? What is a reasonable time? Does it depend on how much is being spent on the class, such as you must stay for X months for every $1000 spent on you?
Security

Submission + - Offshoring to take a big bite out of your job

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "Well this well certainly get things roiling: Twenty-eight metropolitan areas, representing almost 14% of the nation's population, are likely to lose a disproportionate amount of jobs — between 3 to 5 % — to offshoring by 2015, with Boulder, CO; Lowell, MA; San Francisco, CA; San Jose, CA; and Stamford, CT taking the hardest hits says a study from the Brookings Institute this week. http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/1171 1"
Programming

Submission + - Demystify C's greatest difficulty memory debugging

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Memory errors in C and C++ programs are bad: they're common, and they can have serious consequences. Many of the gravest security notices from the Computer Emergency Response Team are simple memory errors. Many of today's C and C++ coders seem to regard memory errors as uncontrollable and mysterious afflictions from which one can only recover, not prevent. It's not so. This article shows that it's possible to understand all the essentials of good memory-related coding.
Robotics

Submission + - Vista Premium Ready Robot?

Submitted by
Marcus8675
Marcus8675 writes: "The robotics revolution is upon us. With various vendors like Microsoft, Whitebox and iRobot providing new offerings in this field, the growth is tremendous. Now you can order, off the shelf, a mobile robot that can hold its own with a desktop system. An Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz, 2 GIG DDR and a custom paint job (Base coat / clear coat Acura TSX Red with Cadillac CTS Silver accents) makes this a one of a kind robot of the future available today. Articles here and here show what has been called 'The lovechild of R2-D2 and Intel'."

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